Nikon Coolscan 9000 conversion to USB3 and Windows 8

<p>Hi there!<br>

<br />I'm in the process of buying a new computer (I own a Toshiba Qosmio X-500, but it's not working that well anymore since it fell to the ground) and I'm willing to keep up with the brand, since it's such an amazing PC. Right now, the new Qosmio (870) doesn't have a Firewire connection, which is troubling to my set up.<br>

I have a Nikon Coolscan 9000ED and I use it a lot. The new Qosmios don't have a Firewire connection and they come with the new operating system Windows 8.<br>

<br />Is there by any chance a way of converting USB3 to Firewire? And does Windows 8 has drivers to support this scanner and its software?<br>

<br />I don't want to buy a computer that won't work with the scanner, since it's one of the nr 1 tasks I use it for. Can anybody help me on this?</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>David</p>

<p>Search Google for "<em>usb to firewire adapter</em>" - seems there are solutions.<br>

If any adapter will work for Coolscan 9000 it is for you to find out.</p>

<p>David, Nikon stopped supporting these scanners already before, so official Win8 drivers will be hard - and especially if you use conversion from USB to Firewire it might become more complicated to get the Nikon drivers and software to work. It was already problematic in Windows 7. However, VueScan should be OK, as far as I know.<br>

The other option would be to build a desktop instead of a notebook. On almost all notebooks, Firewire does no longer exist. On desktops, it's still easy to add firewire; many mainboards still have it available. If mobility is not strict requirement for this PC, it could be an easier solution. It does not change the software side of the story, though - 3rd party solutions are your best bet.</p>

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<p>However, VueScan should be OK</p>

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<p>I think no doubt that it will work IF you can solve the connection problem.</p>

<p>That's more difficult. It is true that there are various X>Y converters, but in looking for a similar kind of converter for my old scanner I found out that although there were claims to conversion, closer looks suggested that many of these worked only "poorly".</p>

<p>I ended up simply keeping an older machine up and in order. I use it for the occasional long internet download, a CD player, and a machine to accept input from my scanner. I'm guessing you can find an older computer with the firewire connection on it for little, if any. more than a converter box.....</p>

<p>All it takes is the room to set it up, but if you do, your main machine will always be available while the other churns away.</p>

The cleanest connectivity will be just straight USB.

 

For scanning software I recommend SilverFast.

<p>I keep an older desktop with Windows XP specifically for a Nikon Coolscan V ED film scanner, Canon i9900 Bubble Jet Printer and Canon LiDE 60 scanner. Drivers are not available from the manufacturers for these relics to operate on Windows 8.</p>

<p>Another vote for Vuescan. I think it works as good or better than the Nikon software. Running Win7 64 bit.</p>

<p>It's worth mentioning the reason Vuescan is OK is that it incorporates it's own generic USB driver file (inf) that accepts pretty much everything. The Vuescan drivers have even been used to enable manufacturer scan programs to work on systems where the manufacturer doesn't provide a driver.</p>

<p>Ellis, the problem is that the Coolscan 9000 doesn't have a USB connection. It's firewire only.</p>

<p>Getting Nikon Scan 4 to run at all on Windows 8 (64-bit) is going to be a major challenge, but it's only putting off the inevitable. You <em>will</em> eventually need a dedicated machine to run your Coolscan 9000. Nikon has no intent of tracking Windows or Mac OS support, they have left us high and dry.<br>

For the USB scanners, the dedicated machine can be a virtual one, as both VMware and Fusion support USB passthrough from virtual to physical. That's what I do for my Coolscan V: Nikon Scan 4 on Windows XP on Parallels on Mac OS.<br>

Now, you can avoid the Nikon Scan software problem with either SilverFast or VueScan. I've been quite happy with SilverFast 8, but it is expensive. I've been frustrated with poor color management on VueScan. But neither of these is as fast and easy-to-use as Nikon Scan.<br>

So get yourself a used machine to dedicate to your CoolScan 9000. It could be one that has native Firewire support. Or, it could be an IBM ThinkPad, the T43 and T60 both have "ExpressCard/PC Card" slots, for which there are very reliable Firewire adapters. Those machines are <em>tanks</em>. With the rare optional FlexView (IPS) display, they are beautiful as well (full sRGB gamut).<br>

Or, there are later-to-current-generation laptops with ExpressCard 54mm slots, again, there are Firewire cards for these.<br>

If you use a dedicated machine, install Windows XP on it, and firewall it so it cannot access the Internet, let it only access your local network (normally 192.168.0.0/16). Setup a file share on your main laptop so it can store files there. Don't EVER mount a removable drive (or SD card) on the dedicated machine, don't want to give it any boot sector viruses. (Antivirus support will vanish for Windows XP in a year or two, so you will have to practice completely "safe sex" computing on it, forever.)</p>

<p>I'm currently using Vuescan with my Coolscan 8000 and it works perfectly fine with Windows 8 64-bit with no hassle or setting up whatsoever, with the built-in Firewire controller on my motherboard (An ASUS P7P55D-E EVO).<br>

But now I'm planning to upgrade my PC and current motherboards don't necessarily have Firewire anymore - or if they do, only in some high-end expensive models. But, cheap Firewire boards for PCI-Express are all over the place. Can anyone please confirm they have a CS8000/CS9000 working with some brand of Firewire PCI-Express board or other, on Windows 8 64-bit and with Vuescan? I'll buy the same type of board - I suppose the cheap ones are all the same anyway, but I'd like some added feeling of certainty :)</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Just for the record, I tried the instructions here for getting Nikon Scan 4.0.3 working in Win8 64-bit: <a href="http://www.colorneg.com/XP/Vista/7/driver_for_64-Bit_Windows/Coolscan/Nikon_Scan/">http://www.colorneg.com/XP/Vista/7/driver_for_64-Bit_Windows/Coolscan/Nikon_Scan/</a><br>

Works fine now with my current system, it's easier to do than it looks (those instructions could be streamlined a little bit). Doable in 10 minutes for an experienced PC user - and even if not experienced, certainly a lot easier than setting up a dedicated scanning PC and keeping it running/maintained/updated/powered...</p>

<p>However since I have a Coolscan 8000, the "negative scan clipping feature" is still there, so I continue using Vuescan for most of my color neg scanning. Nikon Scan is at it's best when you have medium format film with uneven spacing, which is a hassle with Vuescan... and with positives it's fine of course. (Don't ask, this is an old and looong topic to go over from scratch once again...)</p>

 

<p>Windows 7 does have native IEEE 1394 support ( firewire ) so with Vuescan there should be no problem if your PC has a built in 1394 port as mine has, PCIE/IEE 1394 cards are available, alternatively XP could be run as a virtual machine in the same box possiby this will work with the original Nikon XP drivers and software. Don't know if Win 8.1 has retained firewire support though, Microsoft seems to have abandoned a whole lot of support options in for stuff like Parallel printer ports etc. which is the reason I have gone back to Windows 7/64 ultimate which was a real pain but one hell of a lot less hassle than all of the problems I had with 8.1. Another alternative is to run an XP box on a local network, this would not need to very powerful and it could be a small box simply attached to the scanner and powered up as needed.</p>